Windows NT to be most popular platform by 2000 according to IDC

International Data Corp. (IDC) released a report this week stating that itexpects Windows NT to become the most widely used computer operating systemby the year 2000. According to the report, sales of UNIX platforms willcontinue to slow, as they have for the past few years. For example, salesof UNIX workstations fell from $12.1 billion in 1995 to $11.4 billion in 1996.The main reason in this decline? Windows NT.UNIX server sales are still strong, however, growing an average of 28% thisyear. Many corporations are buying a majority of NT servers andworkstations over the next three years but will continue to purchase UNIX systems as well. This trend is expected to end when Microsoft releases NT-based clustering, high scalability, and a 64-bit version of the popular OS, some time in 1997 or 1998